


Sharing Souls

by betsib



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-09 20:29:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3263321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betsib/pseuds/betsib
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico had long since stopped hoping to ever find his soulmate, then he met Jason Grace. High School Soulmate AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sharing Souls

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on [Tumblr](http://betsib.tumblr.com/post/109514010272/edit-part-two-is-here-nico-was-eleven-years-old) in three parts.
> 
> The prompts were "highschool au, golden boy and punk/outcast have to do a project together " and "soulmate au".

Nico was eleven years old when he decided soulmarks were stupid.

Sure everybody had one, but very few had them in visible places, so how were you supposed to find the mark that matched yours? And how were you supposed to realize someone wasn’t your soulmate until you were already in love with them?

If the mistake that had been his crush on Percy had taught him anything, that was it. Soulmarks were stupid.

Nico studied his own mark in the mirror for a moment. The vaguely skull-hit-by-lightningbolt shaped mark on his hip was miles away from Percy’s winged horse, and Nico had known it immediately the first time he saw the mark on Percy’s leg. Still, it had taken years for the feelings to disappear.

Now he was seventeen, in high school, and had long since stopped trying to find a match to his mark. Some people never found one, he knew that. Some people found several.

Sighing, Nico looked away from the mirror and threw on a shirt. No more moping about eternal loneliness, or he was going to be late for school.

***

Of course he ended up late again, and of course they had to be doing a paired project in English class. By the time he arrived everybody was already paired off, though Nico supposed it was for the best. At least this time he could blame his tardiness for not getting a partner, instead of facing up to the fact that nobody wanted to work with him.

He sat down, waiting for the teacher to start explaining the assignment, when the classroom door opened.

“I’m so sorry that I’m late,” Jason Grace, golden boy extraordinaire, said as he walked into the room. “The council meeting took longer than it should.”

“Of course,” the teacher smiled at him. “We’re doing a assignment in pairs, and we just finished choosing partners, but I think Nico is alone, so you can pair off with him.”

Nico swore inwardly as Jason looked over towards him. Jason Grace was the wonderchild of the school; member of the student council, star football player, always on top of the class, and if that weren’t enough he was also good looking. Basically he was Nico’s exact opposite. Whatever the assignment was it was doomed to fail epically.

“Okay, this is a pretty simple assignment,” the teacher said, and that didn’t bode well. “I have brought a collection of literary classics with me, and each pair will choose one of these books. You  _both_  have to read it.” She gave them a stern look. “You will meet and discuss the book three times outside of school, first after reading a third of the book, then two thirds and then when the book is finished. You will write summaries of the discussions down and hand them in to me. You will also have to give a presentation about the book and the author to the rest of the class.”

Right, Nico thought bitterly. Simple.

“Now then, take a moment to choose a book.”

Nico sighed as he joined the chaos around the displayed books. Jason walked up to him with a small smile on his lips.

“Hi. So we’re working together?” he said, and Nico nodded.

“Looks that way.”

“Any preferences with the books?” Jason asked, looking over the titles with a frown. There were more books than there were pairs, so they couldn’t just wait and take whatever was left.

“Not really. I’ve read some, but choosing one of them would probably defeat the purpose of the discussions,” Nico said, picking up the first book he could get his hands on. “ _The Count of Monte Cristo?_ ”

“I’ve read one already, sorry,” Jason said, and Nico was honestly a bit surprised. Then again, Jason was the golden boy. There was probably nothing he couldn’t do.

Jason picked up another one. “ _Pride and Prejudice_?”

“I haven’t read it,” Nico shrugged. “It works for me.”

“Could be interesting, I guess,” Jason said, then turned to go tell the teacher about their choice.

As he turned around, Nico caught a glimpse of something by the nape of his neck, a black mark sticking up a bit above his shirt. Jason’s soulmark. Nico’s insides went cold.

He recognized that shape.

The mark wasn’t completely visible, but the top part definitely looked the same as the mark on his own body. Nico stared. He needed to see the rest of it, but how was he going to manage that. Just ask? “Hey, excuse me, let me just look down your shirt real quick, I think we might have the same mark.” Yes, that would work well. especially if he was wrong.

The lesson continued as their teacher went over the different topics they would be expected to cover during their discussions, but Nico didn’t hear any of it. His eyes kept glancing back at Jason, wondering if it could really be possible. And if it was, what then?

Jason wouldn’t be happy about it, that’s for sure. He probably expected his soulmate to be a pretty cheerleader, or something like that. Not a scrawny guy half his size who didn’t participate in any school activities, had basically no friends and spent most of his time in his own room.

Jason came up to him after the lesson, and Nico had a hard time looking him in the eye.

“So how fast do you think you can read one third of this?” Jason said, holding the book up.

“One third is about 150 pages, right?” Nico said, pretending to look through his own copy rather than look up at Jason. “I can have it done by tomorrow if you want it done quickly.”

“I’m really not that fast,” Jason said, laughing a bit. “How about Thursday?”

“Works for me. After school?”

“Erm,” Jason said uncertainly. “I have practise after school. Do you think you could come an hour earlier in the morning instead?”

“Fine,” Nico groaned. His soulmate was a morning person? That just didn’t seem right. Maybe he really had seen wrong.

***

Nico was barely awake when he got to school that Thursday. Jason on the other hand seemed completely awake, the bastard. And he was wearing a hoodie, meaning Nico’s vague hope of getting a better look at his soulmark was extinguished immediately.

He had been trying to get another glimpse of it the last few days, following Jason around school like a stalker, but so far no luck. The lower part of the mark was always,  _always_  covered by whatever shirt he was wearing, but the upper part was definitely familiar.

“Hey. Sorry about dragging you up this early,” Jason said as they sat down by a table to get started.

“It’s okay, just don’t blame me if I fall asleep in the middle of this,” Nico said, yawning widely. “How do you like it so far?”

“It’s more interesting than I thought it would be,” Jason said, smiling slightly. “I can’t believe Charlotte married Mr. Collins.”

Nico gave a huffed laugh. “Yeah, that was a surprise.”

They discussed the book for a while, listing off the topics their teacher had given them. The school slowly started to fill with students around them.

“Jason!” a girl Nico didn’t know approached them, smiling widely. “Would you show me your soulmark?”

Nio stared at her, shocked she was so blunt, but Jason just shrugged and said: “Sure.”

Nico wanted to scream as Jason got up from his chair to pull his shirt down a bit. All that time spent following him to get a glimpse of it and trying to be subtle about it, and it was this easy?

The irritation died as Jason’s mark became visible. In the days past Nico had almost, almost managed to convince himself that he was wrong, that it just looked similar but wasn’t the same. Now the truth was staring him in the face.

Jason’s soulmark was shaped like a skull getting hit by a lightning bolt. Exactly like Nico’s.

“You’ll tell me if you see someone with the same mark, right?” Jason smiled at the girl, and Nico shot up from the table. Jason gave him a confused look.

“I…I think we’re done for today,” Nico said, feeling a bit unsteady as he collected his papers into his bag.

“Okay, I guess,” Jason frowned. “So same time Monday?”

“That works,” Nico said distantly, then more or less ran away. He locked himself into a bathroom, just to have some privacy to think.

Jason Grace was his soulmate.

Nico had known that for some time already, even if he had done his best to deny it. He couldn’t anymore. Not after seeing the full mark. So what was he going to do about it?

Nico buried his head in his hands, almost sobbing. He should tell Jason. That’s what he was supposed to do, but what would Jason say? How would he react when he found out who his soulmate was? Would he be angry? Would he decide to wait for a better option?

There was a theory going around that a person could have several soulmates rather than just one. There had been a few instances where people had found two or three people with the same mark, but they were exceptions, and usually ended in really unusual relationships. Some scholars believed that there could be up to twenty people in the world with the same mark, but it had never been proven. A person had to be lucky to find even one.

And Nico had found one. He was supposed to be happy, but he was terrified.

***

Nico was a wreck when he sat down in front of Jason the next monday. He had barely slept all weekend, just lying awake thinking about what to do. So far he hadn’t found an answer.

“Good morning,” Jason greeted with a smile, blissfully unaware of Nico’s inner turmoil.

“Hey,” Nico grunted. “How do you like the book now?”

“I wish Lizzy and Mr. Darcy would just get married already,” Jason sighed. “I’m sure they are soulmates.”

“Soulmates weren’t a big thing in Victorian England,” Nico pointed out. “That’s why they kept their marks covered, because it was improper, and could lead to scandals. Few people even  _met_  their soulmates back then.”

“Yeah, I know. I just don’t get it,” Jason said. “How could finding your soulmate be a bad thing?”

Nico’s stomach did a backflip at that, though he tried not to let it show. “What if it turned out Lizzy’s soulmate was someone she despised, like Mr. Collins?”

Jason made a face. “Please tell me that’s not what happens.”

“No, but hypothetically,” Nico said. “What if she found out her soulmate was the kind of person she didn’t like? Wouldn’t that be a bad thing?”

“If her soulmate is Mr. Darcy, and I think he is, then that  _did_ happen,” Jason pointed out. “But she changed her mind when she saw who she really was, and he realized his faults because of her, I think. If it’s your soulmate, it’ll work out.”

“Not always,” Nico persisted, and Jason nodded.

“No, not always,” he said. “But it’s always because of things surrounding the couple. I’ve never heard of a failed relationship between soulmates, just tragic stories ending in death.”

Nico couldn’t meet his eyes. He looked down into the book again. “So do we still agree on the central themes?”

***

It took Hazel basically kicking his ass for Nico to finally talk to Jason between classes a few days later.

“He’s your soulmate,” she had told him angrily. “That’s not going to go away just because you try to ignore it. You need to face this.”

Nico took a deep breath, then approached Jason, who was just closing his locker, looking a little stressed. It probably wasn’t the best time, but Nico had finally gotten this far, he couldn’t turn back now.

“Jason, I need to talk to you about something,” Nico said quietly, afraid he would lose his nerve. Jason gave him a surprised look.

“Can it wait?” he asked. “I have a council meeting in a few minutes.”

Nico shook his head, certain that if he didn’t do this now he would never find the courage again. “I just need to show you something. Come with me.”

“Okay,” Jason said uncertainly, following as Nico led them away from the crowd. The library was close by, so Nico brought them in between the shelves, out of sight.

“Is it a book?” Jason asked, frowning at Nico. “Why are you taking your clothes off?”

“I’m not,” Nico said, blushing as he lifted his shirt up and pulled his pants down a bit, so the mark on his hip was uncovered. “I thought you should know.”

Jason froze. He stared down at the mark, looking completely shocked. “This… it’s like mine,” he said, slowly reaching out to drag his fingers across it in wonder. Nico felt a bolt of something akin to pleasure shot through him as Jason touched the mark, and he jumped back on reflex.

“Sorry,” Jason said, seemingly a bit dumbfounded. “I just… How long have you known?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Nico said, blushing furiously as he readjusted his clothes to cover up the mark again. “That was all. You should go. You’ll be late for you meeting.”

He turned around to flee the scene, but he didn’t even make it out of the library before Jason caught him by the arm and stopped him.

“Fuck the meeting!” Jason said, loudly enough that people gasped behind him. He barely gave them a glance before dragging Nico back behind the shelves, looking furious. “How long have you known?”

“I caught a glimpse of it the day we chose books, but I didn’t know for sure until last Thursday,” Nico said, struggling to get free. “Let go of me.”

Jason did, but he still looked angry. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

_Because I thought you’d be disappointed._

_Because I was scared of rejection._

_Because without this mark I would never have a chance._

Nico didn’t know what to say. “I didn’t think you’d want to know,” he finally managed.

“Of course I wanted to know! Don’t make my decisions for me!” Jason bristled, the closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Not you.”

At that, the anger slowly faded away from his face. When Nico looked up at him, he just looked  _hurt_.

“Is this why you asked about despising your soulmate?” Jason asked quietly. “Is that what I am to you?”

“No!” Nico exclaimed. “No, of course not.”

“Then why?”

“I don’t know, I just…” Nico tried. “I hadn’t expected to ever find a soulmate. I was scared.”

“Of what?” Jason asked, gentler now. For a moment it looked like he was going to reach out for Nico again, then he apparently thought better of it.

“Everything?” Nico said. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you immediately, but this whole thing is weird. I mean, we have nothing in common.”

“Except a soul,” Jason smiled. “I’m sure we’ll find more once we get to know each other.”

Nico blinked. “You  _want_  to get to know me?”

“Sure. You’re my soulmate, right?” Jason said, frowning a bit. “Why wouldn’t I want to? Are you saying you don’t want to know me?”

“No, I…” Nico sighed. “Shouldn’t you be at your meeting?”

“They can manage without me. I wouldn’t be able to concentrate anyway,” Jason said. “Let’s go somewhere and talk.”

“Somewhere? You mean skip school?” Nico said, staring at him. “Who are you and what have you done with Jason Grace?.”

“You should ask yourself that question, and I’m planning on finding the answer,” Jason smiled. “Come on, Nico. Please. I want to know more about you.”

Nico couldn’t exactly say no to that.

***

It was strange, Nico pondered as they snuck out of the building. He had skipped school plenty of times, but never with someone else. And now here he was, with  _Jason Grace_  of all people. Nico wouldn’t have thought the golden boy had ever skipped a lesson in his life. Now he wasn’t so sure.

Jason took him to a small café some ways away from the school. It didn’t really occur to Nico until he was sitting down with a large cup of hot chocolate in front of him that this was a  _date_.

“So, um, tell me about yourself,” Jason said, actually looking a little nervous.

Nico looked uncertainly at him. “What do you want to know?”

“Everything?” Jason smiled. “What do you do in your spare time?”

“Nothing special. Books, video games, that sort of thing,” Nico said. “What about you? Do you even _have_ spare time?”

Jason laughed at that. “Not much,” he admitted. “I hang out with friends, mostly. Or books, sometimes.”

“Did you finish  _Pride and Prejudice_  already?” Nico asked, and Jason frowned at him.

“Yes, but we didn’t come here to discuss that.”

“Why not, since we’re already here?” Nico asked, trying to get back on more familiar territory. Jason kept frowning at him.

“You don’t want to be here,” he concluded. “Why? Is the idea of being my soulmate really that repulsive?”

“No,” Nico said, sighing as he looked down at his chocolate. “That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?” Jason said, exasperated. “Because I don’t understand. Finding your soulmate is supposed to be something to celebrate, but you really don’t seem happy about it, and I don’t get why.”

“Were you disappointed?” Nico asked, gloomily.

“A bit,” Jason nodded slowly, and Nico’s heart sank. “I thought when I finally found my soulmate it would be this momentous, happy thing. Instead you drag me behind some bookshelves and tell me like it’s a shameful secret.”

“Sorry,” Nico muttered. “I just… I don’t think I can be what you want.”

“What do you mean?

“The way you talk about soulmates,” Nico said. “Like you just find someone and live happily ever after with them. Like two halves magically becoming whole when they meet. I don’t think I can be that for you.”

“I’m not asking you to become something you’re not for my sake,” Jason said. “That’s sort of the whole point. Soulmates like each other for who they are, not who they’re pretending to be.”

“But that’s not what’s going on here,” Nico scowled. “We would never be here if it wasn’t for our matching soulmarks. We’ve barely even talked in all the time we’ve known each other, but now, suddenly, you want to know everything about me.”

“So  _that’s_  what’s wrong,” Jason said slowly. “That’s why you didn’t want to tell me, and why you look like you want to run away. You don’t believe I’m actually interested in you.”

“You’re interested in my soulmark,” Nico muttered. “You wouldn’t have looked twice at me otherwise, yet now I’m suddenly the most interesting person around. But nothing’s changed. I’m still me.”

“Nico,” Jason said sternly. “You never talked to me before this either, so you can’t just pin that on me. And few people know much about their soulmates before they find out about it. It’s the way this works. And that's why I want to know you better.”

Nico sighed, looking down into his chocolate for help. “I know. I’m being unreasonable. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, look at me,” Jason said, gently, and Nico forced himself to lift his head and meet Jason’s eyes. “I’m not trying to force this on you, okay. Soulmates or not, you have the right to say no. All I’m asking for is a chance.”

Nico almost laughed. Jason Grace, the pride of Olympus High School, was asking him, school outcast and the probable winner of the“low expectations”-award, to give him a chance to date him. It was ridiculous.

“Okay,” Nico said. “Just try not to get too disappointed.”

“I doubt I’ll be,” Jason smiled, then his eyes went wide. “Wait, when you asked about being disappointed earlier...”

“It doesn’t matter,” Nico interrupted him. “Could we just go back to talking about the book or something?”

Jason frowned, then nodded slowly. “Sure. Whatever you need.”

They managed to finish the discussion and plan the presentation before they parted. Nico went directly home afterwards, and the first thing he did was throw himself down on his bed. He felt weird. Nervus, almost. Expectant, though he wasn't sure what he was waiting for. A little bit happy. A little bit scared.

He kept playing the conversation with Jason on repeat in his head. He really hadn’t given him much reason to, but Jason still wanted to try. Jason hadn’t been disappointed Nico was his soulmate. Jason thought they could make it work. Jason, Jason, Jason.

When Nico fell asleep, all he could see was blond hair and electric blue eyes.

***

“Hey, you look tired,” Jason greeted him the following morning with a concerned smile.

“Couldn’t sleep very well,” Nico said grumpily. “Are you okay? After skipping out yesterday?”

Jason laughed. “Don’t tell my stepmother and I’ll be fine,” he said. “I could afford to lose one day. To be honest it was nice to have some time off.”

“Good,” Nico nodded. “Well, see you. I’ll have to get to class.”

“Wait,” Jason said before Nico could walk away. “Are you doing anything after school today?”

“Nothing special,” Nico answered. “Don’t you have practice?”

Jason shook his head. “Not today. Meet me here after school?”

“Okay,” Nico said, blushing as he walked to class.

***

“So what do you want to do?” Jason asked. “You want to go somewhere?”

“Erm,” Nico said uncertainly. What did people even do on dates? It was too early for a movie and he wasn’t hungry, so not the dinner-and-a-show- thing. What else was there? Nico wasn’t sure. “Maybe we could just go home.”

“To your place?” Jason asked. “Sure. I’m kinda curious to see what your room looks like, to be honest.”

Nico was suddenly nervous about bringing Jason home with him. He had mostly suggested it for the familiar territory, but in all likelihood it also meant they would be all alone.

“Are your parents at work?” Jason asked as they arrived at the silent house. Nico noded.

“Dad’s out of town, and my stepmother more or less lives at the flower shop,” he said. “My sister might turn up at some point though.” Unless she was hanging out in the nearby stable again. Nico wasn’t really sure whether he wanted her to come home or not.

“Wow, you have a lot of games,” Jason exclaimed as he entered Nico’s room.

“Yeah, they pile up after a couple of years,” Nico said. “You ever play?”

“At friend’s houses,” Jason said. “My stepmother violently dislikes them, so I’ve never been allowed to have any. When I move out and go to college I’ll probably spend all my money on things like this.”

Nico smiled at that. “Rebel at heart, huh? Who’d have thought?”

“I get that a lot,” Jason nodded, then sighed deeply. “I honestly can’t wait to get out of high school.”

“You and me both,” Nico agreed. “Well, if you want to play something, go ahead.”

“You don’t mind?” Jason asked, and Nico just gestured towards his game collection. Jason grinned as he leaned down to get a better look.

“Which one is your favorite?” he asked. His mark was almost fully visible on his neck from this angle, and Nico was reminded that Jason wasn’t just here to hang out and play video games.

“I don’t really have one,” Nico said, blushing slightly. “I’ve played  _Dishonored_  a lot lately.”

“Does it have fighting?”

“If you want it to. I usually try to sneak around the enemies, but you can fight them if you want,” Nico said. “The game rewards you for not killing people, though.”

“Sounds pretty different from the ones I play with Leo,” Jason said. “It’s just single player, right? Is that okay?”

“It’s fine, I can watch,” Nico said, settling down on the floor in front of the tv.

This was a very different Jason to the one he saw at school, Nico realized quickly after the game started. At school he was almost god-like, so perfect he was unapproachable, at least for the likes of Nico. Here he was cursing loudly at the television when the first guard that _could_  notice him shouted for the alarm.

Nico liked this Jason more.

“I don’t get it,” Jason said in frustration as he fled through the prison. “How is it even possible to get through unnoticed?”

Nico laughed. “Want me to show you?”

Jason wordlessly handed him the controller.

***

Jason didn’t have many free evenings, but he seemed determined that they spend at least some time together every day. Nico didn’t mind. It was nice to have company at lunch, or on the breaks, even though they got a lot of funny looks from the rest of the students. They hadn’t exactly gone public with the whole soulmate-thing, in fact they hadn’t even talked much about it lately, but Nico suspected people guessed. He didn’t really know how to feel about that. At least nobody had said anything.

Spending so much time with Jason, Nico begun to notice cracks in the facade. Golden boy, council member, football player and who knew what else, but the Jason underneath it all was starting to fall apart under the pressure. Despite the smiles and the generally upbeat attitude, he looked more tired every day. Nico wondered if anyone else had noticed, and if it was partly his fault.

“Do you want to come to my place after school?” Nico asked a few weeks after the big reveal. Jason looked up at him in surprise.

“I have football practice,” he said apologetically, then hurriedly looked at his calendar. “But maybe I could come afterwards, if it’s not too late.”

“It’s okay,” Nico said with a frown. “You don’t have to make an  _appointment_  for me.”

“I’m not,” Jason said. “This is the first time you’ve asked me anywhere, of course I want to come.”

“You might be better off going home to sleep,” Nico said. “You look like you need it.”

“No, I’m fine. I’d rather spend some time with you,” Jason said. ”If it’s okay?”

“Sure,” Nico sighed, figuring he wasn’t exactly in any position to give health advice.

***

Nico was sitting on his bed reading  _Sense and Sensibility_  when Hazel let Jason into his room that evening. Jason looked even more tired now, but he was smiling as he approached.

“You two play nice,” Hazel grinned as she gave Nico a look before disappearing down the stairs. Nico felt his cheeks heat up.

“Hey,” Nico said, putting the book away. “How was practice?”

“Good. Nothing unusual,” Jason said, hesitating for a second before sitting down on the bed as well. Nico wondered if he should feel uncomfortable with that, but he didn’t. Having Jason close by was soothing, somehow. Even if he still made Nico nervous.

“More Jane Austen?” Jason asked, pointing towards the book.

Nico nodded. “Yeah, I liked the last one, so,” he said. “Speaking of, I was thinking that we could watch the screen adaptation of it, if you want.”

“Sure, could be interesting,” Jason said, and Nico moved to put the movie on. They watched in silence for a while, then Nico felt Jason’s head fall down on his shoulder. At first Nico thought he had fallen asleep, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Jason was just resting his head on Nico’s shoulder for some reason.

“Are you okay?” Nico asked, not moving. Jason’s head was heavy and his breath tickled Nico’s neck a bit, causing his heart to race, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Nico wondered just when he had become so comfortable around Jason.

“I’m just so tired,” Jason said into his shoulder, and Nico frowned.

“I told you you should have gone home and rested,” he said. “I’m not going to disappear just because you don’t have time once.”

“It’s not that,” Jason said, a bit muffled. “I feel better with you.”

Nico’s stomach filled with butterflies, but he tried to calm them down. “Thanks,” he mumbled. “Glad to know I’m good for something.”

“Don’t say that,” Jason said sternly, lifting his head to look at Nico with a frown. “I honestly don’t know how I would have gotten through these last few weeks without you.”

“You managed well before I turned up,” Nico pointed out. “If anything I think I’ve added to your worries.”

“I managed the best I could, which wasn’t always ‘well’,” Jason said. “Things have been hell lately, with the exams coming up and the training getting more intense for the match this weekend and that thing with Octavian that’s driving the council nuts...”

He trailed off. “Sorry, didn’t mean to lay that on you,” he said. “The point is, having you near helps. I don’t know if it’s the soulmate-thing or just you.”

“I don’t get it,” Nico frowned. “Why do you insist on doing all these things if you don’t have time for them? Why not just quit something?”

“Sounds so easy when you put it like that,” Jason smiled. “It’s my stepmother, and living up to my father’s legacy and stuff. And I  _can_  do it, I know I can. Things are just a little hectic right now.”

“If you say so,” Nico said, eyebrows raised. “But you don’t need to prove anything to me.”

“I know,” Jason said, head falling back down on Nico’s shoulder. “Let me just stay like this for a bit.”

“...sure,” Nico said. On impulse he reached out to drag his fingers over Jason’s hair. It was a bit awkward, but Jason made a small, content sound into Nico’s shoulder, and Nico smiled as he continued the movement. Jason’s hair was surprisingly soft, and Nico found he rather liked it.

***

Jason came by pretty often after that, usually pretty late in the evenings, and Nico actually started to look forward to it. They hadn’t really talked about the whole soulmate thing in a while, but they weren’t exactly just friends either. Sometimes Jason would look at him with a question in his eyes, and Nico would swallow hard and look away, pretending he didn’t notice, but there was no denying the way Nico’s heart started beating harder whenever Jason was around. Nico was falling fast, and he knew it.

A little over a month since they first started hanging out, Jason came by on a Friday evening. They spent some time playing video games and doing nothing, but Jason kept glancing uncertainly at him. Finally Nico had enough.

“What is it, Jason?” he asked bluntly. “You keep staring at me.”

“I’m sorry, it’s... um, can I… Can I see your mark again?” Jason asked, and his cheeks turned a bit red. “Sorry if it’s weird, I’d just really want to see it.”

Nico hadn’t really expected that. “It’s fine,” he said, nervously lifting his shirt up a bit. His pants still covered the lower part of it, but Nico figured it would do.

For some reason Jason looked relieved to see it, like he had expected it to disappear or something. “Can I touch it?” he asked quietly, and Nico hesitated. Last time his body had reacted in a weird way, but on the other hand, Jason was his soulmate. Touching each other’s marks was something they were meant to do, according to every movie Nico’d ever seen. And part of Nico actually  _wanted_  him to.

“Okay,” Nico said, swallowing hard, and Jason carefully placed his hand on the mark. Nico gasped for breath as his fingers touched his skin. It wasn’t a bolt of pleasure, exactly. Not like touching himself. It was more emotional, like a surge of affection just hitting him like a lightning bolt.

Jason was watching him intently, and Nico decided it wasn’t fair he was the only one going through this. He reached up as best he could to place his hand on the back of Jason’s neck, where he remembered seeing the mark before.

Jason made a sound like a whimper, but he didn’t pull away. Instead he hunched his back a bit more, giving Nico easier access to the mark. “Touching the soul” the poets called this, and that’s kinda what it was like. He and Jason were connected, had always been, though it had never been so clear before.

“Nico,” Jason said quietly, looking him in the eyes. “Please tell me you feel this.”

Nico nodded. “I do,” he confirmed breathlessly. “Jason...”

“Can I?” Jason asked, and his face was so close now, and his hand was on Nico’s mark, and Nico couldn’t quite remember why he had thought this was a bad idea. He stood on his toes to close the distance between them.

The world stood still as their lips met. Nothing mattered anymore, except Jason. Nico had never felt anything like this. This was  _right_ , there were no other word for it, and Nico never wanted it to end.

Eventually they had to pull apart, equally flustered and out of breath. Jason was smiling hopefully towards him. He had let go of Nico’s mark, so the surge of emotion running through him upon seeing that smile must have come from somewhere else. He couldn’t help smiling back.

“We really are soulmates, then,” he said sheepishly, and Jason laughed.

“We really are,” he agreed. “Now will you stop trying to run away from me?”

“No promises,” Nico said with a teasing smile. “Will you stop trying so hard to be perfect?”

“I’ll try,” Jason said, bringing Nico into a hug. Nico rested his head against his shoulder, sighing deeply.

Maybe Jason had been right all those weeks ago. This might actually work out.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading.


End file.
